Monday, August 08, 2011

Saint Pieters?

Could we have finally found a replacement for Jose Enrique, who was heading for the exit door long before his Twitter rant and subsequent fine? The player in question - according to the Mirror, at least - is 22-year-old Dutchman Erik Pieters, who plays for PSV Eindhoven.

The article's author mentions that Pieters "boasts Champions League experience" - like that's going to come in useful any time soon. More relevant, however, are his ten caps for the national side, which make him a team-mate and contemporary of Tim Krul. C'mon Tim, it's your turn to go to work with the hard sell...

There's speculation that Alan Pardew's scouting mission was designed to kill two birds with one stone, also enabling him to to watch PSV's 25-year-old Swedish international striker Ola Toivonen. Another player mentioned in the press over the weekend as a potential target to boost our strikeforce was Roman Pavyluchenko - but it seems unlikely that Spurs would allow him to leave, with both Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe apparently out of favour, or that Jabba would be prepared to shell out the sort of fee and wages that would be required to secure the Russian's services.